Kickstarter Founder to Technoport

We are thrilled to announce the appearance of Kickstarter co-founder Charles Adler at Technoport 2016 on 2-3 March.

Since it was founded in 2009, Kickstarter has enabled fans of creative projects to financially support them in advance, proving the demand and ensuring they get made. Even today, the platform is still for many the first place that springs to mind when thinking of crowdfunding.

So given Technoport's history in supporting and promoting the idea of crowdfunding, we are thrilled to announce the appearance of Kickstarter co-founder Charles Adler at Technoport 2016.

Our CEO Gøril Forbord is delighted to have found a replacement for Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, who was forced to withdraw from the conference this week.

"Kickstarter has contributed to the realisation of many exciting projects that might not otherwise have seen the light of day. They have been instrumental in shortening the road from idea to market. The rapid development we have seen in Virtual Reality in recent years is one example of how Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms have been a driving force for innovation," says Forbord.

Together with his co-founders, Adler was voted the "most disruptive in business" by Forbes in 2013.

Kickstarter success stories

Last year, the new Pebble smartwatch raised almost $18m with a couple of weeks still to go. It smashed the old Kickstarter record held by Coolest Cooler, the cooler that featured an ice-blender, Bluetooth speakers and a USB charger. Pebble's initial campaign for the first version of its smartwatch back in 2012 is in third-place with $10.26 million.

Coolest Cooler inventor Ryan Grepper struck gold with what was essentially exactly the same project, just not presented as well. For the revised project, 62,642 backers chipped in a total of $13,285,226.

If that doesn't inspire you to try again with a failed project that you believe in, nothing will!

Exploding Kittens, the card game from the founder of web comic The Oatmeal, amassed $8.7m from an original goal of just $10,000. It just goes to show what having a platform and making the most of momentum can do for you.

If you want to hear about the success story of the Kickstarter platform and what advice its founder has for your own campaigns, grab a ticket for Technoport 2016 while you still can.